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Demonstrations are planned to highlight the case of a 30-year-old stateless man, Peter Qasim, who begins his seventh year in detention today.

Mr Qasim, Australia's longest-serving detainee, continues to be locked up in the Baxter detention centre in South Australia because Australia can find no country to take him.

He said the worst thing was the uncertainty. "Even a criminal knows the length of his sentence but I have no such comfort," he said.

A full High Court ruling last month upheld the legality of the Immigration Department holding failed asylum seekers indefinitely, if no other country is prepared to take them.

Mr Qasim, one of 13 stateless asylum seekers held in Australia, was born near the border of India and Pakistan in the disputed territory of Kashmir. His father, who was involved in separatist activities, is missing, presumed dead, while Mr Qasim was detained by the security forces and interrogated. He said he fled in 1997.

He spent 14 months in Papua New Guinea before arriving on the Torres Strait Islands and asking for asylum. His application was rejected because it was thought he would not face persecution if returned.

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After the Refugee Review Tribunal also rejected him in 2000, he escaped from WA's Port Hedland detention centre but was caught and served three months in prison. Last year he asked to be returned to Kashmir but India requested proof of nationality, which he could not supply.